Football

The right man for the job is …

Mangino not ready to pick his QB starter

One word on a standard college football depth chart smells of stalemate: "or."

Kansas University's football team has just one position without a clear first-teamer, according to its depth chart released Wednesday.

It's an important one, too. As expected, quarterbacks Kerry Meier and Todd Reesing haven't locked up either the starting or backup spot now that spring season is over, so the two-letter word "or" goes between them.

It's no surprise. KU coach Mark Mangino insists no one has taken a lead, and both Meier and Reesing think it's a deadlock between them.

The competition likely won't be resolved until August - if resolved is the right word.

"Resolved means it's a problem," Mangino said. "I don't see it as a problem."

Meier and Reesing had similar performances in Sunday's spring game at Memorial Stadium.

The longer it lasts, the more the question springs up: Will they both play on Sept. 1, when Kansas plays Central Michigan in the season opener?

The Jayhawks have done that in the past.

In 2005, Adam Barmann and Brian Luke played in the season opener against Florida Atlantic and split snaps in some Big 12 Conference games that year, too.

Even Meier and Reesing shared the ball against Iowa State and Missouri a year ago, though Meier was used significantly more.

Still, playing both is not a desirable solution for Mangino.

Photo by Brett Garland

"I would like to have one guy be the No. 1 quarterback, and he be the guy," Mangino said. "I think that's the way it will play out. If it doesn't for some reason, I feel like a lot of teams have proven you can win rotating quarterbacks. Case in point is Florida."

The Gators thrived last season primarily using senior Chris Leak at quarterback. However, freshman Tim Tebow played plenty, too, even though Leak was healthy.

The two co-existed and led the Gators to a 13-1 mark and national championship. With Leak gone, Tebow's now the Gators' clear-cut guy heading into 2007.

A two-QB system doesn't sound likely in Lawrence this fall. But a one-player answer isn't ready to be revealed, either.

"It would be my hope that somebody will emerge as we continue repetitons into two-a-days, as we continue to put them in difficult situations," Mangino said. "One of them will surface as the No. 1 guy, but the No. 2 guy won't be far behind.

"We feel for the first time, we have two starting quarterbacks. We're just looking for one to completely take the job over."

¢ Just five seniors are among the 23 first-team spots on the offense and defense - McAnderson, Henry, tight end Derek Fine, right tackle Cesar Rodriguez and defensive tackle James McClinton. There are no freshmen, four sophomores (including one QB) and 14 juniors.

I think it's pretty safe to say that both are doing quite well, and, although we've heard this story before, we must remember that in the past the choice was between two QB's of a LOT less caliber than these two. In Meier and Reesing, we have two superb athletes who have proven at one point or another in '06 that they can make plays--other than Bill Whittemore, we have not had anyone who was able to do that on a consistent basis. For instance, can anyone really honestly say that they thought either Luke or Barmann was going to do anything of significance when they took the field? Granted, Luke played extremely inspired ball in relief duty against Iowa State two years ago, but he urinated down his leg whenever he got a starting nod. And Barmann, although a good kid, was never going to be the playmaker we so desperately need here.

My point is that in the past, Mangino has been forced to go with the evil of two lessers at QB. In my opinion, that is not so this year. No matter what candidate you throw out there, he is going to produce. I could be wrong in that assessment, but I don't think so. We should see some MUCH improved play at the QB position this year, whether it be from Meier or Reesing. That is why Mangino doesn't see the situation of no clear-cut #1 as a problem.

It's times like these I am proud to be a Jayhawk so I don't have to be associated with the kind of ignorance/arrogance that is a K-State fan.
It is kind of like K-State fans have a memory span of a knat. I mean, did you already forget we beat you down like your 8 year old sister at football and basketball... Count them 3 times last year! And you lost your long time basketball coach of a year due to your crappy little school. It really is sad.
Never a better time for you to come over to the KU website and whisper some sweet nothings. Go crawl back in your hole. The last time K-State spoke of greatness (last year) you withered like a testicle on steroids.
Go to hell, or even worse, go to Manhattan!

yellatex-You had 6 times the fans show up last year for your spring game compared to us and got embarrased when your kids stepped on the same football field as ours.
Whats my point? I dont care if 200,000 fans show up for your spring game, you better brace yourself in October when a real football team comes to Manhattan.
You beat us last time we came to town 12-3 because our QB was Barmann and our offensive cordinator sucked. Guess what, those two guys are long gone.
I almost forgot, what do your shirts say at the basketball games? Oh yeah, I remember now- "Got Hugs?"

After all the hype that Mangino and KU had around Kerry Meier, is Mangino really debating this subject at all? I mean it seems like everyone is trying to compare Kerry, who played like a freshman last year, tried to play through injury and made freshman mistakes, in more games, to Todd Reesing, who played what,a half against Colorado, and a few snaps in one or two other games? I think with all the hype, Mangino has to go with Meier this fall.

Who cares about hype? Not me, I care about wins and the fact that we only won 3 games last year that Mieir started against 1A opponents.
Louisiana Monroe, Iowa State, and Kansas State. The only one he played well in out of the three was the Iowa State game. Not exactly what anyone had in mind after the spring game when Mangino announced him as the leader of the offense for 06. If Mieir had more than ONE impressive win on his resume we probably wouldnt be debating this. I might buy the freshmen excuse if Mieir would of shown any improvement at all last year as the season progressed.
Also, you would have to be a damn fool to just ignore how Reesing played just because his snaps were limited. Mangino said the same thing in not so many words.

Oh yeah, if memory serves me correct that game was down in College Station, and afterwards everyone was thinking he was the second coming of John Elway or something. He did have a pretty good appearance. We still lost that game, though...didn't we?

No, that's not what I'm saying at all--I think that we shouldn't compare Barmann and Reesing because I think that Reesing is actually more capable than Barmann ever was. As I said earlier in a post on this article, I would be more than happy with EITHER QB at the helm this year because I believe that both of them are capable of running this offense and moving the ball. BOTH of them are Better than Luke, or Barmann, or Swanson, or Wegner, or Johner...you get my drift. I think, outside of Billy Whittemore, that these two are the most talented quarterbacks we've had in some time and I feel good about BOTH of them. I can understand all of the gripes about Meier, but I still think he is better suited to play QB at KU than anyone in the recent past. That said, I feel the same about Reesing. I'll wrap up by saying that whatever choice Mangino makes along the lines of a starter, I'll be comfortable with it, because there will be an equally talented guy to step in should things go awry.